


Love Shot

by snapchattingnct



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff and Humor, M/M, bad pharmacy humor, flustered babies, happy riley day, lots of pharmacy jokes, markhyuck, pharmacy intern mark, the markhyuck pharmacy au that no one asked for haha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:01:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24895084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snapchattingnct/pseuds/snapchattingnct
Summary: For Riley (@pharmarkcy on twt), happy birthday!Pharmacy world shenanigans featuring NCT (especially markhyuck).
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 18
Kudos: 195





	Love Shot

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TRASHCAKE](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TRASHCAKE/gifts).



> Happy Birthday Riley!  
> Wishing you nothing but the absolute best on your special day. I would say I'll take a shot with you, but I think we're both a little too old to be doing those lmao. (And I have work soon.. ) But I'm so blessed to have crossed paths with you! Can't believe I was able to find my pharm buddy! I love you!
> 
> Here's part 1 of your birthday gift, the markhyuck pharmacy au that no one really asked for haha. Honestly this was supposed to be a really short one shot but here we are, almost 6K deep. It seems to be the trend lately with all of my fics. Although I wasn't able to finish it in time before your birthday would end in your timezone, I hope you enjoy it! Part 2 of your birthday fics will be posted soon~
> 
> Beta-ed by the lovely Isis, thank you!
> 
> There's a bit of pharmacy humor that might not be as funny, so I do apologize beforehand! 
> 
> Happy reading~

Mark laughed as he tried to avoid Mrs. Suh’s pinching fingers, but she managed to catch a hold of his cheeks regardless. Tugging on them affectionately, she said, “You’ll have to stop by for dinner after work with Taeyong too. I’ve missed you guys! Johnny does too.” 

Smiling, he nodded as he allowed her to pull at his cheeks as she pleased, promising, “I will Mrs. Suh. I’ll be sure to pass on the message to my brother too.” 

“Oh, stop calling me so formally, will you?” Mrs. Suh waved her hands dismissively in the air as her nose wrinkled in disgust. “You keep on making me feel so old!” 

“You don’t seem like you’ve aged a single day since I’ve met you, Auntie.” 

“And you have always had a way with words.” She began to gather up all of her belongings as she waited for Mark to finish up the rest of the vaccination paperwork before she waved goodbye, “Dinner tonight! Don’t forget!” 

“I won’t!” He called back after her. “I’ll see you later, Auntie.” 

As he locked the door to the vaccination room, he was met with the sight of a frowning Doyoung, his patience wearing thin, as he tried not to lose his cool with the patient he was helping. Trying hard to hold in his laugh as Mark slipped around him, he headed to the back of the pharmacy where Jeno and Jisung were already hundling together, laughing quietly behind their hands. 

Filing away the paperwork, Mark shook his head, a tiny amused smile on his lips. “You guys are terrible, letting him suffer like that.” 

“Hey, I am definitely  _ not _ helping her.” Jisung exclaimed as he raised his hands up, surrendering. Biting his lips to stop himself laughing, he said, “She accused me of miscounting her percocet last time she came through. And she was super mean.”

“Well, coming from you, Jisung, with those hands of yours, I wouldn’t be surprised if you did miscount her pills.” He teased as he nudged Jeno into nodding along with him. 

Cheeks puffed out in embarrassment, and the tips of his ears turning red, Jisung whined, “I am not that clumsy. Plus, Doyoung double counted them for me.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Mark patted Jisung’s shoulder soothingly. “I was just playing around. I know that you didn’t.” 

Jisung was about to launch into another story when they heard Doyoung’s voice begin to rise in volume. Sharing a confused look with one another, he leaned back out from the back to sneak a peek at the commotion that was starting to stir at the pharmacy counter. 

Mark couldn’t see Doyoung’s face but judging from the way that his back was as rigid as a pole, he bet that Doyoung was anything less than furious. “Ma’am, I said that it’ll be around fifteen minutes for us to fill your prescription. We’ll give you a call over the intercom when it’s here ready for pickup.”

Tone filled to the brim with attitude, the lady bit out, “So you’re telling me that it takes  _ fifteen  _ minutes— fifteen, for you to put a damn label on a vial?” 

“No, ma’am.” Doyoung shook his head before he spun around and walked back to the filling station. Breathing out deeply through his nose, he rolled his eyes at them before snatching up an empty amber vial. Without saying much of anything else, Doyoung went back to the counter. “Putting a  _ damn  _ label on an  _ empty  _ bottle only takes like 2 seconds.” Slapping the white label on the vial for show, he thrusted it out towards her. “Here you can have it, it’s complimentary.” 

Jisung completely lost it then and he had to shuffle even further in the back to not make a scene with his guffawing. Beside him, Jeno let out a couple snickers, his eyes turning into tiny crescents as he too tried to keep his laughing to a bare minimum. Mark on the other hand, lost it, he had to excuse himself to the back along with Jisung, for he was laughing way too hard for it to be appropriate. 

“I can’t believe that Doyoung did that.” He wheezed out, slapping Jisung on the shoulder repeatedly as he continued to laugh. 

“Doyoung’s a savage, oh my gosh.” 

Doyoung was usually known for keeping his cool, but at times like this, he gave absolutely zero fucks. 

Peeking from behind the rows of medications, they watched as the lady’s face turned beet red. Peeved, the lady slammed the empty amber vial down on the counter and shouldered her purse, biting out, “I’ll be back in fifteen.” 

“Sounds perfect,” Doyoung replied back as they all watched her stomp away from the counter, absolutely fuming. 

Turning around for a brief moment to toss Jeno the script, he said, “Type this stupid script will you? I want her finished as soon as possible and out of here.” 

Jeno caught the script with ease, laughing as he scanned it into the system. 

Mark was completely breathless, both his sides and cheeks aching from all the laughing that he had done. Jisung wasn’t all the much better either as they came out from the back of the pharmacy and attempted to resume their work. But it seemed like he wasn’t going to get that much done that day because before he could even start anything, Doyoung let out an extremely loud groan. 

“Oh, it’s you  _ brats _ .” Doyoung shook his head before he pointed down to the consult window that was closer to them, muttering, “Jeno’s down at the other one. Go bother him down there.” 

Raising an eyebrow, Mark turned over to Jeno. “You have visitors?” 

Jeno looked just as confused as he was. Shrugging, he went back to typing. “I wasn’t expecting anyone.”

“I wonder who it is then.” Mark pondered out loud, but he didn’t have to wait for long, because the answer arrived in a flurry of blue and loud gushing. 

“Nono!” Jaemin popped into the consult window, a wide smile gracing his lips. Not even caring if it was appropriate or not, Jaemin reached over the counter and tugged Jeno close, pressing a wet kiss to his cheek. “I missed you!” 

Rubbing at his wet cheek, Jeno said, “I literally saw you this morning.” There was absolutely no bit to his words as they were overflowing with affection. 

“But that was  _ hours  _ ago.” Jaemin argued. Then dropping his gaze from him, he asked, “Alright, where’s my other baby, Jisung?” He continued to call out for the youngest boy, his voice raising in pitch as he did so. 

More than embarrassed, Jisung came to the counter. “ _ Hyung _ , can you stop calling me that? I’m literally eighteen now. I’m not a baby anymore.” 

Pulling him into a hug, although a bit awkward due to the counter being in the way, Jaemin continued to gush at him. “Oh, you will always be my little baby, Jisung. Nothing is going to change that, not even your age. You could be seventy years old for all I care, and I would still call you my baby. I love you.” 

Jeno gasped, jaw growing slack. “You never tell me that you love me, Nana! Why does Jisung get those words and not me? I’m the boyfriend.” 

Jaemin continued to smuggle Jisung with his hugs as he said over his shoulder, “Jealousy is not a pretty color on you, my dear.” Then pecking Jisung on the cheek before letting the poor boy go, he added, “Also, I tell you that I love you all the time. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

As Jaemin and Jeno got caught up in their own little world with their small lovers’ quarrel, Mark noticed that Jaemin didn’t come alone this time around like he usually did. Instead, he seemed to have brought a friend along and the said friend was  _ pretty. _

It was the middle of summer so Mark wasn’t all that surprised to see such a beautiful golden tan on the boy, which was a huge contrast to his own skin. He was paler than a sheet of white paper and it was kind of embarrassing, because he had a tendency to burn if he sat in the sun too long. His body wasn’t capable of holding a tan. If he stepped out into the sun, he would either burn into a crisp or none at all. 

The boy was dressed in a very simple, casual outfit; dark shorts and an extremely loose, white tee, but it was breathtaking. His hair was a tossle mess on the top of his head, but it was effortlessly beautiful. 

Mark was hardly at a loss for words but as he dragged his eyes away from the boy’s body, and found himself staring at a pair of warm brown eyes, he felt speechless. 

“Um, hi?” 

Even though he had barely said anything, Mark felt like he just heard angels sing because  _ oh lord,  _ his voice was like velvet. When he didn’t say anything in response, a rosy hue seeped in between the boy’s freckles, warming up his cheeks. At the awkward silence, the boy started to gnaw on his bottom lips, tugging at it. 

His eyes lingered on those plump lips for a second longer before Mark suddenly remembered where he was. Clearing his throat, he smiled, “Hey, how can I help you today?”

“I’m here for a flu shot?” The boy asked him as if he wasn’t all too sure why he was there either. “Sorry, I highly doubt that it’s even flu shot season yet…” 

Catching bits of their conversation, Jaemin paused his little quarreling with Jeno and turned his attention over to them. Throwing an arm around the boy’s shoulders, Jaemin said, “It’s never too early to get vaccinated, Donghyuck.” 

Mark couldn’t help but smile at the way Donghyuck rolled his eyes at Jaemin’s words before huffing out, “You’re just using me as an excuse to see Jeno.” 

Feigning a surprised gasp, Jaemin dropped his hand from Donghyuck’s shoulders and held them to his chest. Eyes wide and seeming innocent, he exclaimed, “That is so not true… I’m also using you as an excuse to see my baby Jisung.” 

“I knew it.” Donghyuck rolled his eyes before tossing Mark a knowing look, which made Mark’s heart stutter within his chest. His cheeks then flushed the same red color that had once decorated Donghyuck’s face before. Donghyuck crossed arms across his chest and stood his ground as he tapped his feet against the tiled floors. “I can’t believe that I agreed to deal with this on the daily."

“Oh, shut up, Donghyuck. You know that you love me.” Jaemin pouted, eyes growing big and innocent. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Turning to look back at Mark again, Donghyuck pleaded, “Please take me out of my misery, even if it’s with a shot.” 

.

Entering Donghyuck into the system and then having him fill out the flu shot paper took less than a couple minutes. Mark then led him into the vaccination room, shot in hand. Unlocking the door, he allowed Donghyuck in first, who surprisingly seemed a little hesitant. After a few bated breaths though, he entered in with Mark following right after him, closing the door as they entered in. 

Once Donghyuck sat down in one of the chairs, he jokingly asked, “You’re not afraid of needles, are you?” The moment those words left his lips though, he saw the way Donghyuck paled at the sight of the needle gleaming under the fluorescent lights and stilled. “Wait, really?”

Letting a nervous laugh slip past his lips, Donghyuck eyes shook as he made eye contact with him. “Surprise?” He rubbed his hands against his thighs as Mark sat down into the seat opposite of him. “Uh, I guess this is where I mention that I hate needles… like I  _ loathe  _ them.”

Unable to stop himself even in a situation like this, Mark laughed. 

Laughing was his defense mechanism. If a patient was mad at him, he laughed. If a patient was happy, he laughed. If a patient was sad, he would sometimes laugh too, because he was so  _ damn  _ awkward and he definitely did not know how to comfort a sad person. What was he supposed to do? Offer a hug to the bawling stranger who he just filled a bunch of oxycodone and docusate sodium to? That would be a hard pass. 

This time around though, since Donghyuck was a friend of Jaemin, who was Jeno’s boyfriend, Mark felt like he had a certain level of responsibility in comforting him. Not to mention, Donghyuck was a pretty boy,  _ extremely  _ pretty, and a frown did not need to be on his face. 

“Okay, okay. This is totally possible. No fear.” Mark laughed once again. Nodding to no one in particular but himself, he continued on, “Even if you have a deathly fear of needles. Completely possible.” 

“Well, that’s easy for you to say! You’re the one giving the shot and not the one getting it.” Donghyuck shrieked out, eyes wide and still focused on the needle in his hand. 

Seeing this, Mark urged Donghyuck to look at him instead. “Hey, don’t look at the needle. It’ll just make you more nervous.” 

“What am I supposed to look at then? The wall?” Donghyuck deadpanned. “Looking at the wall is even worse for my nerves…” 

“Then look at me.” Mark stuttered out. His ears were burning and his heart was thudding against his rib cage, but the look on Donghyuck’s face was totally worth it. Mark cleared his throat and tried his best to ignore the sound of his heartbeat in his ears as he said, “Just focus on me.” 

After a moment, where neither of them said anything, the silence becoming almost unbearable, Donghyuck suddenly smiled, which suited him so much better than the frown that he had on earlier. Eyes bright, he said, “I guess that it’s a good thing that you’re cute or else my eyes would have to suffer too.” 

Mark flushed even redder, but thankfully, he wasn’t the only one that was embarrassed because Donghyuck’s face was equally red. 

“Okay, cool. Um, so chicken or pizza?” Mark asked him as he inched closer with the syringe. He tried to be as subtle as possible and not to make any sudden movement that would scare Donghyuck. 

At his odd question, Donghyuck spared him a confused look before replying with, “Definitely chicken. I hate pizza.” 

He was just about to administer the vaccine until he heard Donghyuck’s answer. Gasping, Mark immediately searched for Donghyuck’s eyes to see if he was lying or not. When he found nothing but the truth in them, he was shocked. “You hate  _ pizza _ ? How could you hate pizza? It’s so good.” 

“I don’t know. I just don’t like it. I prefer chicken over pizza any day. Pizza is too greasy for me.” 

“Like fried chicken is any healthier.” 

“Depends on how it’s cooked, but pizza is gross.” Donghyuck shuddered. Then looking at him strangely, he asked, “Also, aren’t you like lactose intolerant? Pizza has a shit ton of cheese and that can not be good for your stomach.” 

“How did you know that?” Mark wondered because the only people that knew where his friends and he just met Donghyuck that day. The longer he thought about it though, he found the answer by himself. “Nevermind. You’re best friends with Jaemin, so of course you know that embarrassing fact about me. But yeah I am. I would say I’m more like a selectively lactose intolerant.” 

“Okay…,” Donghyuck hummed as he nodded his head, before changing his mind and shaking his head instead. “I don’t actually understand.” 

Heaving a long sigh, Mark offered him an awkward smile before launching into his extremely long explanation about his wacky lactose intolerant body, which was probably something that was usually kept for the like the third or fourth date, and not so much the first meeting. But desperate times called for desperate measures, right? 

He focused on the syringe in his hand as he continued to talk, slowly coming closer to Donghyuck’s bare arm. “It’s kind of complicated, but sometimes I get away with eating certain kinds of dairy products. Like pizza. It does have a  _ shit  _ ton of cheese on it but I still eat it because my body doesn’t act up when I do. Frozen yogurt on the other hand, that’s a major hell no.” 

“I think that something is just wrong with your taste buds…,” Donghyuck commented. “Yes to pizza but a hard no to frozen yogurt? That’s a shame because frozen yogurt is amazing, especially the wedding cake flavor. It’s literally the best.” 

“Sorry?” Mark offered, trying to look as apologetic as possible even if he really wasn’t. “My stomach says no so therefore I say no.” 

As Donghyuck launched into another long tangent about frozen yogurt and all the amazing combinations that he loved, Mark swiftly swiped the alcohol swab across his skin before going in with the syringe. Before Donghyuck’s mind could even register the pain, he slapped a bandaid right over it. Tossing the empty syringe in the sharps container, he began to peel off his latex gloves. 

Donghyuck stared at him with wide eyes and mouth slightly agape. Eyes darting back and forth between his arm and the sharps container, he was stunned. 

“All finished.” Mark smiled at him. Filling out some extra information on his form, he added, “See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” 

“Wait, we’re finished?” Donghyuck managed to sputter out, eyes still big and wide. 

It was so cute. Mark kind of had the urge to reach out to pinch those adorable puffy cheeks and kiss him senseless. Instead, he settled with laughing softly at his amazed expression. “Yeah, you’re all vaccinated and ready to take on the world.” 

“I can’t believe that you managed to do that.” 

“Thank you. I am pretty awesome.” 

“Okay, let’s not push it too far.” Donghyuck laughed as he got up from his seat. As he placed his hand on the handle, ready to leave, he gave Mark another blinding smile, one that went straight towards Mark’s heart. “Thank you though. For helping me get through that.” 

Heart beating faster than a hummingbird, Mark nodded mutely. “Yeah. It’s no problem. Glad that I could help.” 

He wanted to say something more, he wasn’t sure what, just anything to keep Donghyuck in this space with him for a second longer, but his mouth wouldn’t move. And when Donghyuck finally turned the door handle to leave, he finally mustered up enough courage to say something but he didn’t because he figured it was too late anyways. 

Maybe God was on his side though, because the door clicked once. Donghyuck’s hand was still on the handle but as he pulled at it, it didn’t move at all. When he tugged at it a second time, it was still locked. 

Laughing, Mark moved forward to open the door for him. “Sorry, sometimes the handle gets stuck, you just have to put some arm muscle into it—,” his words died in his throat though when the door was still locked into place, even after a hard tug. 

“Please tell me, we’re not like,  _ trapped, _ in here.” Donghyuck cried out as he began to tug on the handle relentlessly. 

“We’re definitely not trapped in here.” Mark answered before pulling out his phone from his white coat. Tapping on his messaging app, he said, “It’s probably just stuck like how it usually is. Let me get Jeno to open it for us. He’s a lot stronger than the both of us combined, right?”

“Yeah. True. But what happens if even he can’t get the door open?”

“There’s a spare key to the door too. Doyoung can just get us out if it’s truly locked.” 

“Okay,” Donghyuck breathed out. Seeing that there wasn’t much that he could do anymore but wait, he plopped back down onto the seat that he had sat in. Bringing his fingers up to his lips, he began to bite on them.

Grimacing at the scene that was unfolding before him, Mark quickly finished his text to Jeno and pocketed his phone. Then reaching over to push Donghyuck’s fingers away from his mouth, he said, “There’s like a billion germs on your hands, especially under your fingernail. Please don’t bite them.” 

Flushing at being caught red handed with his bad habit, Donghyuck immediately dropped his hands into his laps. “Yeah, you’re right. Probably shouldn’t do that even if I just got vaccinated.” 

“If you’re nervous, you can hold my hand.” 

Donghyuck stared at him like he had just grown two heads and Mark was pretty shocked with himself too. The words flew out of his mouth before his brain could filter them out, which would have saved him from this super awkward moment, yet again. 

Mouth shutting tight, he felt so embarrassed as he looked at the hand that he had extended out to Donghyuck, as if he would have held onto it. Mark was a complete fool to think that Donghyuck was going to do such a thing. As he was about to retract his hand back into his pockets, a sudden warmth covered his hands. 

Looking away, cheeks a pretty rose colored, Donghyuck mumbled out, “Should have done this earlier, instead of playing the stupid questionnaire we did…” 

He felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest any second now from how loudly he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. Not to mention, it was suddenly starting to get hard to breathe. Donghyuck holding his hand really shouldn’t make his body react like this, burning hotter than the deepest level of hell and making him sweat buckets. 

Before he could think about it too much longer, Jeno’s bright voice reached his ears. “You and Doyoung are always struggling with this door. Nothing is wrong with it. It works perfectly fine.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Mark groaned out loud at Jeno’s teasing. “Just open the door for us already.” 

Jeno simply laughed before they heard him begin to tug at the door. They had expected to be out of there in two seconds flat, that was why Mark dropped his hold on Donghyuck’s hand, even if he really didn’t want to. The moment he pulled his hand away, he immediately began to miss the warmth that Donghyuck had provided and it seemed like Donghyuck had felt the same way because his hand lingered in mid air for a moment before dropping. 

“Um, I think it might be actually locked, Mark,” Jeno said as he continued to tug at the door handle. “Let me go get the spare key.” 

He listened to Jeno’s disappearing footsteps and sighed. Mark knew that he should have just brought the spare key with him in the first place since the door had a tendency to lock itself just as much as it got stuck. 

“Sorry, that was a rookie mistake, not bringing the spare key in here with me.” Mark laughed. Rubbing a hand at the nape of his neck, he offered Donghyuck a guilty smile. 

“It’s okay. I don’t mind, if it means I get to spend more time with you.” Donghyuck smiled right back at him and Mark swore that he forgot how to breathe properly. “Not to mention, Jaemin dragged me here to get a flu shot to meet you anyways.” 

“ _ What?”  _ He wheezed out. 

“Yeah, he said that the intern on vaccination duty today was you. And he also claimed that you were cute and totally my type.” Donghyuck continued on. Then at the sight of his blazing cheeks, Donghyuck held his hands up, adding, “Don’t look at me like that. Those were Jaemin’s words, not mine.”

Mark could not believe that he was having this conversation with Donghyuck right then while they were trapped inside the vaccination room. Since he already was though, there really wasn’t much for him to lose. Maybe that was why, he plucked some random courage out of thin air and asked, “Am I your type then?” 

This time around it was Donghyuck’s turn to become a spluttering mess. “You  _ can’t  _ just ask that, Mark!” 

With his heart slowly going back to normal and his confidence level rising at the sight of Donghyuck’s flusteredness, Mark shrugged. “I don’t see why I can’t. We’re already talking about it.” Shoving his hands deep into his pockets as he waited for an answer, he added, “Plus, I kind of want to know anyways.” 

Donghyuck made a half choked sound, sounding like a half dying cat coughing up a hairball.

“So, am I your type?” 

Mark watched as Donghyuck dropped his gaze down into his lap, twirling his thumbs around each other, cheeks as red as cherries. After gnawing on his lips for a little while, trying to avoid answering the question, Donghyuck finally decided to say something. “So, what if you are?” 

He could barely stop the goofy smile that spread across his lips. “Good, because you’re totally my type, too.” 

“Okay, oh my gosh, please stop.” Donghyuck whined, hands coming up to cover his extremely red face. “This is so embarrassing.” 

“I think it’s cute.”

“Your opinion doesn’t really matter since you’re the one bringing such embarrassment onto me.” Donghyuck glared at him through his fingers, although there was no heat to his glares. 

Mark wanted to say something more, but Jeno had already come back. At the sound of his footsteps, Mark called out, “Did you get the keys? Just toss it over the top like usual.” 

“Uh, small problem.” 

“What?” 

Jeno’s nervous laughing rang out as he said, “The spare key is with Taeyong…” 

“You have got to be kidding me…” Mark really couldn’t believe his luck that day. Slumping back in his seat, he ran a stressed hand through his hair. “Dude, Taeyong doesn’t come in for like another five hours!”

“So you’re telling me that we’re really  _ stuck  _ in here.” Donghyuck whispered. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to stay in here that much longer without losing my mind. No offense, you’re great company and all, but I don’t think a first date in a vaccination room is that cute.” 

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he mumbled out, “Why the hell does Taeyong have both spare keys? He can keep one, but the other one is supposed to stay here!” 

“He must have used it when he was last here and forgot to put them back.” Jeno answered. “Doyoung’s on the phone with the fire department, they’ll send some people down to dismantle the lock and get you guys out.” 

“Yeah, that’s cool, but that might take forever.” Mark sighed. Then standing up from his seat, he took a deep breath before he glanced up at the top of the room. 

He honestly wasn’t too sure who was the architect behind the design for the vaccination room because the room was a little weird. Despite it being an enclosed area meant to provide some level of patient privacy, the top was completely open, leaving a foot of open space from the top of the room to the ceiling. 

A foot of open space that they could potentially slip out from. 

Eyeing it for a second longer, he then casted Donghyuck a look, asking, “You’re not afraid of heights, are you?” 

“No…" Donghyuck replied, brows furrowing together at his random question. Then with a long sigh, he said, “I know you’re probably trying to kill some time but I don’t think playing questionnaire again is going to help us get out of here any faster.” 

“It’s not.” Mark agreed. Pushing his chair closer to the wall, he said, “That’s why we’re climbing out of here.” 

“What?  _ Climbing _ ? Why are we climbing?” Donghyuck was firing questions after questions at him as he stepped on top of his chair. “Are you  _ insane _ ?”

Making sure to stay balanced as he stood on his chair, Mark looked back up towards the open space. Reaching his hands up, it barely grazed the top of the room, but it was enough. He ignored the loud protests that came from Donghyuck as he suddenly jumped up to latch onto the edge of it, knuckles becoming white as he held on.

“You’re actually insane! Get down! What are you doing?” 

“Getting out, that’s what.” Through gritted teeth, Mark put his arm muscles to work as he pulled himself up over the ledge. With trembling arms, he kicked away his chair and found himself peeking out from the open space. Resting on his stomach for a couple seconds, he caught sight of Jeno's shocked face. Rolling his eyes at his best friend’s face, he shook his head. “Don’t give me that look, Jeno.” 

Instead of reprimanding him for making such a dangerous move, Jeno’s eyes turned into half crescents as he smiled. Giving Mark a thumbs up, he said, “Told you those gym sessions would come in handy.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” He huffed out. Turning around to face Donghyuck again, who was looking at him with wide eyes. “I’ll climb out first, then you’ll follow right after, okay?” 

Not even bothering to wait for Donghyuck to answer, Mark launched his body over the top, fingers gripping tightly at the top of the walls. Wiggling through the tiny space, he threw one leg over, then his other one too. Mark was kind of surprised that this plan of his actually worked and he didn’t get stuck at the top because that would have been super embarrassing. 

Adjusting his hold on the ledge accordingly, Mark looked down at the distance that he was from the floor, seeing that was a reasonable distance. Not too far, but definitely high enough for him to break his ankle if he didn’t land correctly. 

He felt Jeno come up behind him, prepared to catch him if he did fall and that made him feel just a tiny bit better. Then taking a deep breath, he released his hold from the ledge and dropped down, landing on his feet with ease. 

“Okay, that wasn’t so bad.” Mark laughed as he straightened out his slightly wrinkled white coat. 

From inside of the locked room, he heard Donghyuck yell, “Easy for you to say! I literally have noodle arms!” 

“Well, you should have joined us when I invited you to come to the gym with us.” Jaemin called out suddenly as he appeared beside him and Jeno. 

“I refuse to subject myself to that kind of torture!” 

“Since you refused, you’ll just be stuck in there now.” Jaemin yelled back. 

Mark had expected for the banter to continue on between them but he was pleasantly surprised when it didn’t as Donghyuck called out for him. “Mark, will you tell Jaemin to shut up and get me the hell out of here.” 

He allowed himself to laugh for a little bit more before he finally made a move to help the poor boy out. “Okay, just step on the chair like I did and pull yourself up. Be mindful of your left arm though. It might ache a little from the flu shot.”

Donghyuck groaned. “You’re telling me that my noddle arms are even weaker than normal because of the shot? This is ridiculous! This is literally all your fault, Nana. If you wouldn’t have dragged me here, I wouldn’t be stuck like this.” 

“If you wouldn’t have come, you wouldn’t have met Markie, now would you?” Jaemin sang out, snickering towards the end of the sentence. 

Before Donghyuck could launch into a flurry of explicits like Mark had an inkling he would, Mark called out for him again. “It’s not that bad. Come on, I’ll help pull you out.” Taking one of the chairs in the waiting area, right outside the room, he pushed it against the wall before stepping on it again. Knocking his knuckles against the wall, he said, “Just get on the ledge and I’ll help you with the rest.” 

“That’s a lot easier said than done.” Donghyuck deadpanned. But nevertheless, Mark listened as he struggled to reach the top. Not more than a couple of minutes later, Donghyuck's head appeared in the small opening, his face strained. 

Immediately reaching for his hands, Mark helped him out. 

“I swear, if I break my leg again because of this, I’m suing everyone here.”

“You’re not going to break anything.” Mark laughed, his shoulders shaking, which almost made him lose the grip that he had on Donghyuck, earning him an earful from the said boy. 

“Quit laughing and help me!” 

“I am. Stop the worrying. I got you.” He promised. 

Once Donghyuck’s body was over the ledge, and his feet dangling from the floor, Mark made a move to step down from the chair, only for Donghyuck to latch onto him even tighter. “Wait! Where the fuck are you going?” 

“Hey, relax. I’m just stepping down so that I can catch you.” 

“Relax? Me? Right now? As I’m dangling in mid air? Ha, you’re really funny, Mark.” 

Mark scoffed at the sarcasm dripping from Donghyuck’s voice. The boy was so sassy. “Just trust me, okay? Jump and I’ll catch you.” 

“I think I’d rather stay up here like this…” Donghyuck said as he looked down at the floor that seemed to be a thousand of miles away. 

Opening his arms, Mark motioned for him to let go of the hold that he had on the ledge. “Come on, seriously, I’ll catch you.” 

“I swear, if you don’t, I will murder your ass.” 

“Yeah, okay fine.” Mark agreed because he knew that if he didn’t, they would be there all day. “Now, jump.” 

He watched as Donghyuck seemed hesitant for a little while, but he didn’t have long because his arms started to shake and his hold on the ledge wavered. Without any kind of warning, Donghyuck released his hold and dropped down. The force of the impact sent him stumbling straight into Mark’s opened arms, but even then, he struggled to find his balance. 

One moment, Donghyuck was tripping over his own two feet and Mark was scrambling to catch him, then the next, Donghyuck’s breath was fanning out hotly against his cheek. Then a feather light kiss was pressed into the corner of Mark’s lips. 

Mark felt his body lock up at the touch, heart coming to a stuttering stop. His eyes widened. 

But as fast as it had arrived, it disappeared. Donghyuck stumbled backwards, looking just as surprised as he was, and a little mortified too. 

He had done plenty of things that went beyond a simple peck, but for some reason this had his mind reeling. His heart was now beating like he was someone who mixed up their propranolol and digoxin tablets together. 

He was on  _ fire _ . 

Behind him, Jaemin let out a boisterous laugh, saying, “And now that’s what I call  _ love shot _ .”

**Author's Note:**

> Please head over to Riley's twt (@pharmarkcy) and wish them a happy birthday everyone! 
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/markeuhyuckie/status/1239041276454076417?s=20) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/markeuhyuckie)


End file.
